Lady Mechanic initiative, LMI, an initiative to empower female school dropouts, returnee victims of human trafficking and women who desire self-empowerment skills on Thursday graduated 25 out of an estimated 100 auto-mechanics in Benin City, Edo state under a partnership with the Nigerian Bottling Company Plc.
Mrs Sandra Aguebor-Ekperuah, the Chief Executive of the initiative speaking at the graduation ceremony said the graduates were the second batch in the series under a partnership her organization entered with the NBC in December 2009 to empower “disadvantaged young women living in Edo state towards employability and entrepreunership through the acquisition of auto-mechanic skills”. She also said that in 2013, forty seven female mechanics had graduated under the partnership.
She added that many of her over 300 graduates in other parts of the country besides Edo, were already in the employment of multi-national companies as mechanics in major cities in the country and overseas, adding that she has recently received requests from auto-firms in Europe and the USA to employ the services of her products.
The ides to start the initiative which regularly scouts for interested females in community outreachs in parts of the state and the country, she said started when at age thirteen she had a dream where she was repairing a motor car.
She added that the dream only became a reality when she trained as the nation’s first Lady mechanic and went on to set up the initiative in 2003, “to catalyze the socio-economic empowerment of women through skills acquisition and behavior modification training for young girls and women”.
The NBC Managing Director Mr Ben Langart at the occasion said the partnership with the LMI was, “to identify and recruit 100 disadvantaged and deprived women, rehabilitate them and show them the benefit of learning a trade and living a positive life based on commitment and hard-work”.
Mr Orobosa Omo-Ojo, the Commissioner for transport who represented the Edo state governor at the event said the state was proud to have the initiator of the LMI as an indigene coming at a time the state was coming out of the dark years when her females were being returned home from European cities where they had gone for prostitution.
